


Firefly Ficlet: Cooking Gone Wrong (1/1)

by Goldy



Category: Firefly
Genre: Angst, Bittersweet, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-22
Updated: 2013-07-22
Packaged: 2017-12-20 05:55:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 927
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/883720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Goldy/pseuds/Goldy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>The galley looked like it had been torn asunder by a cyclone.</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Firefly Ficlet: Cooking Gone Wrong (1/1)

**Title** : Cooking Gone Wrong  
 **Disclaimer** : I don’t own Firefly. I just like to play with it.  
 **Keywords** : Mal, Kaylee, unintentional angst  
 **Spoilers** : Through the BDM  
 **Word Count** : 860  
 **A/N** : [](http://youngcurmudgeon.livejournal.com/profile)[**youngcurmudgeon**](http://youngcurmudgeon.livejournal.com/) prompted me with Mal, Kaylee and plotting evil cooking capers. This was supposed to be all funny and cracktastic. Instead it came out all… angsty. It could be because I’m hormonal. I’m so sorry! *cries*

  
It was the saddest sight he’d ever seen.

The galley looked like it had been torn asunder by a cyclone. There were pots and pans strewn over the counter, protein splatters on the walls, chairs knocked over, and some sort of crusty brown substance crunching underneath his feet. And sitting at the galley table was his mechanic, face buried in her hands, shoulders shaking.

Mal opened his mouth, ready to demand an explanation, and then closed it. Instead, he shuffled forward, side-stepping as much of the brown substance as he could.

He cleared his throat. Kaylee glanced up, little moon-shaped fingernail marks on her cheeks. She looked about ten years younger than she had any right to.

“ _Ai ya_ , what happened?” Mal said.

Looking at Kaylee—like this—made him want to kill something. Track down Simon, Jayne, whoever it was, and plant his fist in their face.

She tried for a watery smile. “Guess I sort’a made a mess, huh?”

“Hey, no—been meaning to redecorate,” Mal said. “Far too… cheerful in here. With the… paint.”

Kaylee looked like she hadn’t heard a word of what he’d said. She gave a pathetic sniffle and wiped her nose on the back of her sleeve. Mal screwed up his face in an attempt not to wince.

“So—” Mal started. “You decided to do battle with a can of protein?”

Kaylee blinked at him real slow, like he was all kinds of stupid. “No,” she said.

“No offense, _mei-mei_ , but it looks like the galley’s seen some better days,” Mal said. “If this is a thing between you and the doc—and no details if it is, _dong ma_?—but if it is, I ain’t above throwin’ him—”

“No,” Kaylee said, startled. “No, ain’t like that.”

She spread her hands on the table and studied the back of her fingernails. Mal rocked back on his heels. And waited.

And then waited some more.

Finally, he folded his arms across his chest, and said, “Well?”

“Just… wanted to try’n do something nice,” she said. “Wanted Zoe to have a real meal when she came back from town. Guess I just… lost control.”

“Huh,” Mal said, eyeing the room that used to be his galley. “That’s… all?”

Kaylee’s smile was a ghost of its former self, but Mal took it as a sign of progress.

“Just started thinking, is all,” she said, propping her chin up on one hand. “What if Zoe don’t like it? Ain’t hardly been a full month since Wash died. And here I am with Simon, the two of us running around right in her face. And then all I could think was—” her chest hitched. “—all I could think was how happy Wash’d be for me, and it almost felt like he could be here. ‘Cept he ain’t. Ain’t never gonna be again.”

Mal swallowed hard. He couldn’t believe it. All that time, worrying on Zoe, on River—not once giving thought to Kaylee. Thinking she was fine, just because she and the doc finally managed to make it work.

Stupid. So stupid.

She looked up at him, face pleading for understanding. “I’m real sorry, Cap’n. Weren’t right of me to take things out on Serenity. She ain’t done nothin’ to deserve that.”

Kaylee idly patted one corner of the table, as if to ask for forgiveness.

“Just a few cans of protein, Kaylee,” Mal said. “That’s all.”

Kaylee nodded at him seriously, smudged flour on her cheek, brown stain on her overalls. “Cap’n, is she gonna be okay? Zoe?”

“Yeah,” Mal said after a moment. “Yeah, reckon she will be.”

Kaylee turned her eyes back to the table. “Didn’t mean to make a mess.”

“Hey—” Mal reached her side and held her gaze. “Hey, you and I both know there are plenty of worse things in this ‘verse. We’ll clean it up.”

Kaylee sniffed. “And nobody has to know?”

“Nobody,” Mal said.

Vague hope alighted in Kaylee’s eyes. “You won’t say nothing?” she pressed. “Not even to ‘Nara?”

He opened his mouth to protest, but Kaylee gave him a knowing glare. “Won’t breath breathe a word to no one. That’s a promise.”

“Pinky swear?” Kaylee said.

“ _Wuo duh ma_ , Kaylee, you ain’t serious.”

Evidently she _was_ serious. There was sheer determination in her eyes when she stood up, and she held her pinkie out to him with the outmost solemnity.

Mal sighed and made what he thought was an admirable effort not to laugh. He reached out his pinky. The tip of Kaylee’s tongue poked out of her mouth as she shook on it. Then she nodded at him, satisfied.

“So,” Mal said, clearing his throat. “Any sort’a idea how to get molded protein unstuck from the galley floor?”

Kaylee considered. “Vinegar?”

He gave her a look. “Don’t got any.”

She shrugged. “Soap and water?”

He mumbled something unpleasant under his breath, but Kaylee gave him her sweetest smile and leaned forward to hug him.

“Best captain flyin,’” she said, pulling away.

Well, of course she’d say that _now_ , once he was already roped into cleaning up the galley.

He shook his head and bent down to start scrubbing.


End file.
